Every little thing you say or do...or buy (Tesco Clubcard)

Member Name: jojoegypt2008

Product:	Tesco Clubcard
Date:	03/02/09 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Points mean prizes

Disadvantages: Data means spam

These days, loyalty cards aren't that special. Everyone has one, and your wallet/purse explodes with them every time you open it to get out your chocolate money (or whatever else you people open your wallets for).

Back in the day, though, the Clubcard was quite innovative; when it launched in 1995 (that's 14 years ago!), very few other retailers had caught on to the concept of rewarding you every time you shopped. The nearest thing at the time (and I'm relying on memory here, so feel free to contradict) was an Airmiles card, or fuel stamps, the first of which took forever to save up and the second of which got you such delights as six matching tumblers.

A reward scheme that gives you cashback, then, was a great idea. Just because virtually every shop you walk into these days will give you some loyalty card or other, doesn't mean that the Clubcard is bad. On the contrary, it has some great features.

You get a point per pound you spend, and a point is worth a penny. That's 1% cashback. Lower than a cashback credit card, yes, but free. And you can use a cashback credit card to pay if you insist.

Once every quarter, you get a statement, and vouchers, which can be used as cash, to the nearest rounded total of what you have earned (ie. 156 points = £1.50 plus six points carried over).

Wait... it gets better (and worse, like an ITV drama). You can earn CC points on things like petrol, and personal finance products. You get extra points vouchers to up your total (get 200 points when you buy...). You can get points from affiliate companies, such as E.On.

A recently introduced scheme is Green CC points - a free point (1p) for every carrier bag you bring in (or every new bag you don't use, in effect - you can carry things in your hands, handbag, pushchair, teeth - as long as you haven't taken a bag, you get the point. You may have to remind the cashier...) You can also get CC points for recycling mobiles and inkjet cartridges, although be aware that you might get more in cash for a mobile from people like Envirophone, who also recycle.

Another little loophole/extra bonus is the CC double points on the CC debit card. You have to top it up before you can spend, but it works like every other debit card - you use it to pay, it works as a CC as well as a payment card, and you've doubled your cashback.

There is one other important thing. Well, I say important. On a world scale, it's pretty irrelevant, but you might like to know anyway...
If you use your CC vouchers instore, they are worth face-value. If you save them up (or spend a lot each quarter), you can use them for up to 4 times the value, on the deals. For example: £2.50 in vouchers = 60 airmiles. To get enough airmiles to fly to Paris, say, for Valentines, you'd need 750 airmiles (return trip). Or £31.25 in vouchers.
£8.75 in vouchers = 1 adult day pass to Alton Towers.
£10.00 worth of vouchers = £40 in Eurostar tokens (part or full payment of a Eurostar ticket).

Of course, like Morse, all good things must come to an end. There is one huge downside. Tesco use the CC data (bearing in mind that each time your card is swiped, they know what you have bought), to target you with products you don't really want to buy. You'll get vouchers for money off/points when you spend just a *teeny* bit more than you usually spend. You'll get junk emails and post, and when you shop online using your CC, it remembers everything you bought. EVERYTHING. Like a disapproving teenager, it *reminds* you that last time, yes, last time, you bought doughnuts. Are you sure you don't want any THIS time, lardy? Hmmmmmm?

If they would stop collecting data, I'd give them 5/5. As that would mean they'd have to stop selling the data to fund CC, I guess it's pie in the sky. Mmmmmm, pie.....

Summary: Good, but you may want to use a PO box and a deadmail email.